Coating material applying device



4 Sheets-Sheet l H. PAXTON COATING MATERIAL APPLYING DEVICE Filed April 1-, 195e O O O O .HL E1 O y o o o o o o o o o :o

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COATING MATERIAL APPTJYING DEVICE FiledApril l, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Dec. 27, 1938. H. PAxToN COATING MATERIAL APPLYING DEVICE Filed April l, 1956 4 Slxeejts-Shtee'l 3 m. um Tl s@ ,MN nu ww 9M b o O i mw. um m.

Dec. 27, y1938. H. PAxToN COATING MATERIAL APPLYING DEVICE Filed April l, 193e 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Dec. 27, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT l*OFFICE 2,141,550 'cosmo MATERIAL arruinar; DEVICE Hale Paxton, Santa Ana, Calif., assignor, by

mesne assignments, to Food Machinery corpof ration, a corporation of Delaware Appuuonapru 1, 193e, semi No. 12,104 f This invention relates to the art of applying coating material to a plurality of free entities and has particular utility in applying wax t citrus fruits in commercially packing these for market.

Devices hitherto in general use for waxing citrus fruits commercially have been provided with mechanically operated means for gradually feeding wax to the wax applicator it being necessary for the feed means to be adjusted by the foreman' in charge of the equipment from time to time to prevent an over-supply or an undersupply of wax being fed to the applicator.

It is an object of the invention to practically eliminate need for supervision of this nature to prevent the overor under-feeding of wax to the applicator.

In accomplishing this object it is another object of the invention to provide a coating material feed mechanism which will feed the coating material to an applicator in accordance with the volume of a stream of independent entities passing through the applicator.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a. coating material feeding device having reservoir pans which are easily removable and replaceable; to provide a coating material feed mechanism which is easily adjustable from time to time to cause it to feed more or less coating material; to provide a coating material feed mechanism which may be changed quickly from automatic to manual control and visa versa; and to provide a coating material feed mechanism for feeding coating material'to rotary brushes or the like which prevents a waste of coating material by the nipping of this from the bristles of the brush.

The manner of accomplishing the foregoing objects as well as other objects and advantages will be mademanifest inthe following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig'. 1 is a side elevational view of a preferred embodiment of the invention incorporated with a transverse fruit polishing brusher.

Fig..2 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional line taken on line 3-3 of Fig. A2 showing the details of the electric mechanism for actuating the wax feed device of the invention.

Fig. 4 is a still further enlarged cross sec-v tional view taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 3 illustrating the mechanism for selectively actuating the waxing device either automatically or manually, this view showing this mechanism in neutral.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a pinch roller clutch rotor utilized in the mechanism illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal sectional view of the fruit brusher shown in Fig.

1 and illustrating the manner in which the wax reservoir pans are associated with certain of the rotary brushes of said fruit brusher. 10

. Fig. '7 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view taken on the line 1-1 of Fig. 6 and showing a wax reservoir pan in plan.

Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic fragmentary transverse vertical sectional view taken on the line l5 8-8 of Fig. 6 and showing one of the wax reservoir pans of the invention inoperative position.

Fig. 9 is a view similar to Fig. 8 illustrating an intermediate position of one of the wax reservoir pans by which it may be readily placed in or 20 removed from the machine.

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary detail view taken on the line Ill-I0 of Fig. 9 illustrating'the manner in which a telescopic action is obtained between one end of the pan and the lugs for supporting 25 this in order to free the opposite end of the pan from the lugs which support said opposite end, when they pan is in its operative position.

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating the means whereby each end of each of 30 the reservoir pans is removably supported in the,

machine. A

Fig. 12 is a. fragmentary enlarged view taken in the direction of the arrow I2 in Fig. 1 and illustrating a fruit responsive mechanism for .controlling electrically the feed of wax by the invention. v

Fig. 13 is a longitudinal sectional view taken on the line |3|3 of Fig. 12. L

Fig. 14 is a view similar to Fig. l13 illustrating 40 another position of the various elements in the fruit responsive feed control mechanism of the invention.

Fig. 15 is a view similar to Fig. 13 and illustrating a still further position of the elements 45 ofrsaid feed control mechanism.

Fig. 16 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the .line iB-IG of Fig. 13 illustrating the details of construction of the fruit responsive wax feed control mechanism of the invention.

Specific reference will now be made to the drawings. The preferred embodiment of the invention shown therein is incorporated in a transverse rotary fruit brusher 20 which has a mme 2| including a plurality of pairs of legs 55 22 which support brush gear drive mechanism 23 having an electric motor 24. The frame 2| also includes side walls 25 and 26 between opposite ends of which are mounted an intake drop board 21 and a discharge drop board 28. Pivotally supported between the side walls 25 and 26 and positively connected to the gear drive mechanism 23, so as to be uniformly rotated in the same direction when the motor 24 is energized, is a series of substantially cylindrical brushes 30. 'I'hese brushes, as shown in Fig. 6, are disposed fairly closely together to form a fruit supporting surface which extends throughout the length of the machine from the intake drop board 21 to the discharge drop board 28.

Mounted on the frame beneath certain of the brushes 30, adjacent the intake drop board 21, is a coating material feed mechanism 35. This mechanism includes a frame 36, including cross bars 31, which are mounted on four of the main brusher legs 22 and which are connected by longitudinal bars 38 and 39. Mounted on the bars 38 and 39 are two gear boxes 40 and two gear boxes 4|. Each 'of the gear boxes 40 is provided with a spiral gear nut 42 while the gear boxes 4| are provided with spiral gear nuts 43. Each of these gear nuts is threadedly mounted on one of four screw shafts 44. Meshing with the gears 42 and 43 in the boxes 40' and 4| are spiral gears 46 which are connected by shafts 41. Also disposed in the boxes 4| and meshing with gears 43 are spiral gears 49 which are connected by shaft 50. The pitch of the meshing gears 42, 43, 46 and 49 being such that rotation of the shaft 50 accomplishes a uniform rotation of all the gears 42 and 43 in the same direction so as to cause a uniform lifting or lowering of all four of the threaded shafts 44.

The threaded shafts 44 are rigidly fixed to and support, attheir upper ends, side bars 55 of a reservoir pan cradle 56 the latter being guided vertically adjacent the inner faces ofthe side Awalls 25 and 26 by guide blocks 51 secured to these sidewalls. The cradle 56 includes shafts 58 which rigidly connect the longitudinal bars 55 and hold the latter in spaced relation.

The bars 55 are provided with inwardly extending lugs 60, each of these lugs having a recess 6| adjacent one side only thereof and extending only approximately half way in from the end of the lug toward the base thereof. The lugs 60 are disposed on the bars 55 exactly half way between the axes of vadjacent brushes 30. The space between each adjacent pair of the lugs 60 is therefore disposed directly beneath one of the brushes 30. Adapted to be disposed beneath each of the brushes 30 which is disposed above the cradle 56 is one of a series of coating material reserve pans 64 which is preferably formed of sheet metal so as to have a bottom 65, side walls 56 and 61 and end walls 68. Side wall 61, which is adapted to be normally disposed opposite upward moving bristles of the brush 30 disposed thereabove, has an inwardly formed lip 69 for engaging the tips of such bristles as these pass upwardly `from contact with the coating material in said pan so as to wipe excess'coating material from the bristles and leave this within the pan 64. The end walls 68 extend laterally and have notches 10 providedv in such extensions which are capable of receiving the vertical thickness of any one of the lugs 60. Above eachof these notches the material of the end walls 68 forms ears 1|.

The construction of the lugs 60 and end walls that direction as shown in Fig.

, on arms and |0|,

68 of the pan 64 is for the purpose of making easy the replacement of these pans in the machine by facilitating their removal or insertion as desired. The first step of such an insertion is illustrated in Fig. 9 where it is seen that a pan 64 has been inserted leftward in place with the notches 10 receiving the thicker base portion of the lug 60 thereby permitting the righthand end of this pan 64 to clear the inward ends of the lugs 60 adjacent that end of this pan and permit the righthand end of the pan to be lifted up and shifted to the right into the position shown in Fig. 8. To remove one of the pans 64, one end is first lifted and the pan is shifted .in 9. This removes the opposite end of this pan from the support of the lugs 60' adjacent thereto and permits it to drop downwardly after which the entire pan is shifted towards the free end thus freeing it entirely from the lugs 60 on which it was formerly supported and permitting it to be removed from the machine vAs shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 4 the shaft 50 has an `extension 88 which protrudes yfrom one of the gear boxes 4| and has threads 8| provided on its extremity. Surrounding the shaft extension 80 and rigidly secured thereto is a collar 82. Freely rotatable on the extension, just outside of the collar 82, is a pinch clutch rotor 83 having two clutch wheels 84 and 85 formed integral therewith as shown in Fig. 5. Each of the clutch wheels 84 and 85 is provided with a series of notches 86 having cavities 81 and cam faces 88. Screwed onto the threads 8| is a. hub 90 of an arm A8| carrying a handle 92 of a crank 93. The crank 93 is held on the shaft extension 80 by a cap plate 94 and cap screw 95, the latter extending through the plate and being screwed into the shaft 50.

'Ihe clutch wheels 84 and 85 are surrounded respectively of ring housings 98 and 99 provided these rings being held in place on these clutch wheels by plates |02 pro vided on opposite faces of leach of the rings 98 and'99 and secured thereto by bolts |03. It will be noted in Fig. 3 that for illustrative purposes only the foremost of the plates |02 is shown removed from the ring 98 to expose pinch rollers disposed in each of the notches 86 of each of the wheels 84 and 85 and springs |06 whii are disposed in the cavities 81 of each of these clutch wheels and work against the rollers |85 to keep these wedged into pinching relation betweenthe clutch faces 88 and the inner surfaces of the clutch rings 98 and-99.

The arms |00 and IUI are each provided with apertures at their ends, the aperture at the end of arm 0| receiving a pin ||0 provided in the longitudinal frame member' 39 so as to prevent the rotation of the ring 99 during the operation of the device.

Also mounted on the longitudinal frame member 99 is a solenoid box ||5 having a lever yoke ||6 upon which is pivoted abell crank 1, the latter being connected by an adjustable link ||8 to the lower end of the arm |00. The bell crank ||1 has a substantially horizontal arm 20 the free end of which is adapted to oscillate between upper and lower collars I2| and |22. Extending upwardly through the solenoid box ||5 and threadedly received in a bushing |24 provided thereon is an adjustment screw |23. Lock nuts |25 and |26 are provided for locking the adjustment screw |23 against rotation so as to x the spacing of the collars |2| and |22.

position where it rests against the collar Mounted in the box 5 is a solenoid |30 having an armature |3| the lower end of which is connected by allink |32 to the arm 20 of the bell crank |1. y

Mounted on the discharge drop board 28. as shown in Figs. 1 and 12 to 16 inclusive, is a coating material feed mechanism control device |40. 'I'his device includes a pair of plates |4| and |42 upper edges of which are secured to the drop board 28 and the lower ends of which are held in spaced relation by tube and bolt spaces |43. Journaled in the plates |4| and |42 is a shaft |45 carrying a ratchet wheel |46 which is pinned to the shaft by a pin |41, the shaft being held frictionally against rotation by spring |48 coiled 'about an extending end of the shaft and pressed against the wall |4| by a cap plate |49 and cap screw |50. The ratchet wheel |46 has a pin |55 provided thereon. Freely rotatable on the shaft |45 is a gravity switch actuator |56 having a pin |51 extending therefrom and held in proper position on the shaft |45 by a spring ring |60.

. Hingedly mounted on the wall |42 is a mercury switch base |62 having a spring clip |63 which supports a mercury switch element |64. A switch actuating arm |66 extends downwardly from the base |62.

Pivotally mounted on the inner face of the wall |4| is a fruit responsive arm |10 which is normally pressed into upward position by a yieldable leaf spring |1| and which has a plate |12 which is disposed above the drop board 28, as shown in Fig. 13, in the path of fruit discharged over said drop board from the'machine 20.

The ratchet actuating arm |10 is provided with a dog |13 pivoted thereon which extends downwardly into engagement with teeth |14 provided on the periphery of the ratchet wheel- |46. The teeth |14 are of such pitch that with each depression of the arm |10 as by a piece of fruit, as shown in Fig. 14, the ratchet wheel |46 is rotated an angular distance greater than the length of one of the teeth |14 so that a new bite is obtained by the dog |13 when the spring |1| again has the opportunity to lift the arm |10 to its upward position shown in Fig. 13.

The mercury switch |64 is connected by electrical conductors |80 to a source of electro-motive energy |8| and the solenoid |30 so that whenever the switch |64 is tilted upwardly, as shown in Fig. 15, an electric circuit is completed between the source |8| and solenoid |30 so as to energize this solenoid to cause it to draw the armature |3| upwardly to the full limit possible, that is: to a point where the horizontal arm |20 of the bell crank ||1 engages the collar |2|. Upon breaking of this circuit by the return of the mercury switch |64 to its normal position, as shown in Figs. 13 and 14, this electric circuit is broken and the solenoid |30 de-energized thereby relaxing its lifting attraction upon the armature |3| and permitting the arm |20 to drop downwardly to its norrlnazl 2 Each such reciprocatory rocking of the bell crank l ||1 swings the arm |00 back and forth with results which will be made manifest hereinafter. Operation The fruit waxing and polishing machine 20 .is adapted to be used in waxing and polishing the individual entities of a stream of oranges, such as occurs in a commercial citrus packing house when these oranges are being prepared for market. After the fruit has been washed and dried it is generally passed through a waxing and polishing. machine. The stream of fruit enters the machine 20 over the drop board 21 and flows over the various brushes 30 and out of the machine over the drop board 28. 'I'he wax is applied to the fruit by a group o1' brushes close to the incoming drop board 21 and then this wax is spread over the fruit by the fruit running over a considerable number of similar brushes between the waxing brushes and the discharge drop board 28.

Before commencing the operation in the packing house in which the machine 20 is installed, all of the wax reservoir pans 64 are filled with melted wax up to a given level and, after the wax solidies, these pans are placed in the machine in the manner already described. At the time these pans are placed in the machine the wax pan cradle 56 would have to be in its lowermost position. This is always accomplished by rotating the crank 93 in an anti-clockwise direction thereby screwing the hub 90 against the cap plate 94, which locks this hub to the shaft so that the continued rotation of the crank 93 rotates the gear nuts 42 and 43 to lower the wax pan cradle 56 into its `lowermost position in which the full pans 64 may be freely inserted into'place on the cradle without the fresh supplies of wax in the pans contacting the brushes 30. This having been accomplished the crank 93 is now rotated in a clockwise direction. Engagement with the threads 8| causes this rotation to screw it towards the right, as shown in Fig. 4, so as to clamp the clutch wheel 83 against the collar 82. The rotation of the crank 93 is then continued carefully to raise the ,wax reservoir pan cradle 56 `so that the uppermost surfaces of the bodies of wax in the pans 64 just come in contact with the bristles of the brushes 30.

The motor 24 is now energized to revolve all.

of the brushes .30 in the direction indicated by the arrows in Fig. 6, the rate of rotation for brushes four and one-half inches in diameter being preferably about 200 R. P. M. While various kinds of bristles may be used in the brushes 30 for polishing purposes these are preferably formed of horse hair. At this time the circuit formed by conductors |80 is also energized.

After the machine 20 has once been in use there is always a certain amount of wax carried on the bristles of the brushes 30. When rst starting' the machine, however, it will be necessary to give these an'inltial charge of wax and this is done by proceeding from the point already described in the starting of the machine and manually rotating the handle 93 in a clockwise direction so as to lift the wax pan cradle 56 bringing the wax in the various pans up against the bottom portions of the brushes 30 thereaboveA and causing these brushes to dip themselves into the wax as shown in Fig. 6. Having done this the rotation manually of the shaft 50 is halted but the crank left in a position with the hub 90 thereof gripping the clutch rotor 83 against the collar 82 which, in effect, locks the clutch rotor 83 to the shaft 50.

' The machine 20, of course, is operated in con- Of course. only very minute quantities of waxare thus transferred to the fruit and there are a considerable number of the brushes 30 in the machine 20 beyond the group of brushes which carry wax. 'Ihese other brushes are for the purpose of polishing the fruit and spreading the wax applied thereto so as to cover the entire surface of the fruit with an exceedingly thin layer of wax.

'I'he outer surfaces of each of the individual pieces of fruit in the stream passing through the machine 20 therefore, rst receives an application of wax then has this wax brushed uniformly over all portions of the surfaces of the fruit so that the fruit will present a polished, glossy appearance. The fruit is then discharged from the machine 20 over the discharge drop board 28 and as the fruit is fairly equally distributed across the brushes 30 it is inevitable that certain of these pieces of fruit thus discharged will strike the fruit-responsive plate |12 of the control device |40. Each time a piece of fruit drops onto this plate |12 it depresses the latter, as shown in Fig. 14, so as to rotate the ratchet wheel |46 an angular distance equivalent to one or more of the teeth |14. Eventually this results in the pin |55 being brought into contact with the switch actuator |56, as shown in Fig. 13. Thus, further rotation of the ratchet wheel |46 eventually brings the switch actuator |56 upwardly into the position in which it is shown in Fig. 14. Now, a slight further rotation of the ratchet wheel |46 overbalances the switch actuator |56 with the result that the actuator swings rapidly downwardly as shown in Fig. 15

thereby causing the pin |51 thereon to engagel the member |66 and turn the switch |64 upwardly as shown in Fig. 15 just for the moment that the pin |51 is passing around between the shaft |45 and the member |66.

As before stated the tilting of the switch |64 upwardly, as shown in Fig. 15, closes the electric circuit formed by conductors |80 and energizes the solenoid |30 so as to lift the arm |20 of the bell crank ||1 thereby rocking the arm |00 to the left. This rocking of the arm |00 causes the pinch rollers |05 withinthe ring 98 to engage the clutch wheel 84 and rotate the rotor 83 and therefore the shaft 50 onto which this is locked by the crank 93. As soon as the momentary energizing of the solenoid |30 ceases the arma-` ture 3| of course again drops downwardly and the parts associated therewith are returned to the positions in which these are shown in Fig. 3. 'I'his causes a return rocking of the arm |00 and a corresponding rotation of the ring 98 attached thereto. This reverse rocking of the arm |00, however, is not transmitted to the shaft 50 because of the tendency of the ring 98, when moving in a reverse direction, to idle over the rollers |05 therebeneath. Furthermore, a reverse rotation of the clutch rotor 83 is always prevented by the pinch clutch rollers |05 under the ring 99 formed on the arm |0|.

It is thus seen that the intermittent energizing of the solenoid |30 causes a slight clockwise rotation of the shaft 50. As alreadyl explained the clockwise rotation of this shaft results in the feeding of the wax in the pans 64 upwardly against the brushes 30 disposed thereabove. As

. only a slight amount of wax is required on the individual pieces ofl fruit is is necessary to regulate this amount of wax to prevent too much wax being applied as this will cause a dull sticky surface to be produced on the fruit instead of a glossy one.. as well as wasting the wax. In all previous devices it was necessary either to feed wax manually altogether or else feed the Wax mechanically altogether, the mechanical feed means being connected to the feed motor 24 so that no matter how much or how little fruit passed through the machine the same amount of wax was always fedto the brushes 30 in the waxing section of the polisher.

A lack of uniform results has always been inevitable with either of the old systems because manual control is never reliable and because a` It will readily be seen from the foregoing dei scription of the operation of my invention that the machine 20 embodying this will not feed any wax to the brushes during these pauses between lots of fruit. The brushes will therefore never be overloaded with wax and all of the lots will receive substantially exactly the same amount of wax and receive the same kind of polish from the brushes 30 in passing through the machine 20. While I have shown the single control switch with a fruit-responsive plate |12 of fairly restricted lateral dimension it is to be understood that two or moreof these switches may be employed across the drop board 28 and be hooked up in parallel in the circuit |80, or one of the switches may be used with fruit responsive means which is more extensive transversely than the plate 12 as shown. `Under general commercial conditions. however, it has been found that the plate |12 and the single switch |40 operate very satisfactorily to feed the wax to the brushes 30. It is also to be noted that while the switch |40 and fruit-responsive member |12 are placed at the discharge end -of the polisher 20 fairly satisfactory results might be obtained under favorable conditions by placing these elsewhere in the stream of fruit passing through the eries of equipment which includes the brusher Adjustment of the wax'feeding device ofv my invention to vary the amount of wax fed in proportion to the volume of the stream of fruit passing through the machine is accomplished by adjustment of the nuts |25 and |26 and the screwing of the threaded rod |23 upwardly or downwardly in the sleeve |24 of the solenoid housing I5. This regulates the spacing of the collars 2| and |22 and determines the amount of rotation transmitted to the shaft 50 by each reciprocation of the solenoid armature |3|. The amount of wax fed is, of course, in exact proportion to the amount of the rotation of this shaft in a clockwise direction. If for any reason it should be desired to increase at any given time the amount of wax on the waxing brushes 30 the foreman need only grasp the crank 93 and turn it in a clockwise direction as far as is necessary to feed the desired excess amount of wax. When he lets go of the handle 93 the automatic fruit-responsive wax feeding mechanism will take up the feeding just as it has been .performed previous to manual operation without any special attention being paid to it. 0n the other hand if for any 75 reason it be desired to discontinue the feeding of wax for a period the foreman merely needsto give the crank 93 a single rotation in an anticlockwise direction to release the clutch rotor 83 and permit this to rotate freely on the extension of the shaft 5D. As long as the handle 93 remains thus screwed outwardly, the operation of the switch |40 and solenoid |30 only cause the idle rotation of ,the clutch rotor 83 on the shaft 59 which is not transmitted to this shaft and therefore causes no feeding of wax.

As clearly shown in Fig. 6, the series of parallel brush rollers 30 are disposed transversely to the direction of travel of fruit to the machine and form fruit receiving valleys between adjacent brush rollers. The rotation of the brush rollers 30 imparts a rotation to the fruit resting on these, which results in a brushing action between the brush rollers and the fruit which eventually reaches all of the exposed surfaces of the fruit. Movement of the fruit through the machine 20 is effected by feeding additional fruit into the initial valley of the machine. This dislodges fruit already in the initial valley and eventually produces a wave-like movement of fruit throughout the length of the machine resulting from the successive dislodgment of fruit from the various valleys' thereof.

While the stream of fruit fed through the machine 20 is sometimes fairly constant in volume,

ythis not infrequently varies considerably from time to time. One of the novel and very useful features of my invention results from its automatically varying the feed of wax to the brush rollers 30 in proportion to the volume of the fruit carried by these rollers whether or not fluctuation in this volume results from changes in the .density of the stream of fruit carried by the brushes 30 or from changes in the velocity of this stream of fruit. Where the rotary brush wax applicator 20 is used, as shown in the drawings, without being equipped with a cleaning-out device, the density of the stream of fruit passing through the machine is practically always uniform, any change in volume of the stream being due to a change in velocity. Responsiveness of my invention to such changes in velocity is due to the fact that the plate |12 is practically always engaged by one of the pieces of fruit of each Wave of fruit embraced in the stream passing through the machine which is propelled by the peculiar feeding action of the machine over the ultimate or final brush 30 in the machine as shown in Fig. 14. As the number of waves passing over this brush vary directly with the velocity through the machine, it is thus seen that the number of times the plate |12 is depressed so as to actuate the wax feeding means is also directly proportionate to the velocity of the stream of fruit passing through the machine.

From the above description of the mode of feeding a stream of fruit through my invention, it is clear that when the introduction of fruit into the intake end of the machine to maintain said stream stops, travel of the stream of fruit in the machine halts and the stream no longer progresses through the machine. A further and very distinct advantage of my invention is to be found in the fact that when the travel of the stream of fruit thus halts, even though it be nowhere broken throughout the sequence of the treating apparatus handling this, the wax control of my invention ceases to cause any further feeding of wax to the applicator until travel of the stream of fruit through the apparatus is resumed. Operatof the stream passing ing as it does in this manner, my invention never feeds to the brush rollers 30 any more than just that amount of wax which is necessary to apply a proper` polish to the fruit currently passing through the applicator.

What I claim is:

1. In combination: a wax applicator for applying wax in minute quantities to each of a large number of entities to be waxed which entities are passed through said applicator in a continuous stream fluctuating substantially in volume from time to time; means for feeding wax to said applicator; and means for automatically controlling said wax feed means to cause it to feed wax to said applicator substantially in proportion to the volume of said stream.

2. In combination: a wax applicator adapted to operate on a continuous stream of fruit or the like to apply wax thereto in minute quantities, said stream fluctuating substantially in volume from time to time; means for moving a body of wax towards said applicator for such application by said applicator; and means automatically responsive to the flow of said stream to govern the operation of said wax body moving means substantially in accordance with the volume of said stream.

3. In combination: a wax applying element adapted to receive wax and transfer said wax onto the individual entities in a continuous stream of the same b`y contact with said entities: and means for delivering wax in varying amounts to said wax applying element, said wax delivering means being separate from said applying element and automatically responsive to the voltime of said stream in determining the amount of wax so delivered.

4. In combination: means providing a reserve cf Wax; means for conveying a relatively small quantity of. Wax from said reserve and applying it onto individual entities in a continuous stream of the same; means for controllably delivering wax from said wax reserve to said conveying means; and means responsive to said stream of entities to control said wax delivering means to vary the amount of wax so delivered substantially in proportion to the volume of said stream.

5. In combination: a member for' receiving and carrying a supply of wax into contact with a continuous stream of individual entities and. through said contact applying said wax to said entities; and means for replenishing said supply of wax carried by said member substantially in accordance with fluctuations in the volume of flow of said stream.

6. In combination: conveyor and wax applicator for conveying and applying wax in minute quantities to each of an intermittently moving entities with said nger.

'7. In combination: a conveyor and wax applicator for conveying and applying wax in minute quantities to each of a continuous stream of rollable entities which varies substantially in velocity from time to time; means for feeding wax to said applicator; and a nger disposed beneath a portion of the path taken by said en- 75 tities in said rst mentioned means and depressible by entities engageable therewith, said finger controlling said wax feeding means and causing the latter to feed wax in precisely the same proportion as the number of engagements of said entities with said nger.

8. In combination: a wax applicator adapted to operate continuously to apply wax in minute quantities to each of an intermittently moving stream of rollable entities; means for delivering Wax to said applicator; and means in the path cf said stream and operative upon engagement by a predetermined number of separate entities travelling in said stream to cause said delivery means to feed a predetermined quantity of Wax to said applicator.

9. In combination: a Wax applicator adapted to operate continuously to apply wax in minute quantities to each of an intermittently moving stream of rollable entities; electricity responsive means for delivering wax to said applicator; and a remote electric control for said delivery means, said control being disposed in the path of said stream and operative upon engagement by a predetermined number of separate entities travelling in said stream to cause said delivery means to feed a predetermined quantity of wax to said applicator.

10. A combination as in claim 9 in which said electric control comprises a movement accumulator; a member extending into the path of said stream of entities and actuated separately by successive contacts with entities in said stream to impart movement Vto said accumulator; and a sudden-throw switch adapted to be closed temporarily by said accumulator when aggregate movement of a given value has been imparted to said accumulator by said member, said switch when closed causing said wax delivery means to be energized and feed, a predetermined quantity of wax to said applicato 11. In a wax applicator the combination of: a main frame; brushing means thereon for conveying a stream of rollable entities and transmitting lwax thereto; a wax feeding frame for lifting a quantity of wax from beneath into contact with said brushing means; Wax pans on said feeding frame for containing said wax; a pair of drive helical gear nuts and a pair of driven helical gear nuts rotatably mounted on parallel axes on said main frame; four threaded shafts xed on said feeding frame and screwed through said nuts; two connector shafts journalled on the main frame; helical gears fixed on opposite ends of said connector shafts and meshing with said gear nuts; a drive shaft journalled on said main frame; helical gears fixed on said drive shaft and meshing with said drive gear nuts; a unidirectional clutch on said drive shaft; means responsive to said stream and fluctuating in accordance with changes in the volume of said stream for rotating said drive shaft through said clutch, such rotation causing a feeding of wax to said brushing means in amounts proportionate to the volume of. said stream; and means forl reversely rotating said drive shaft to lower said wax feed frame.

12. In a wax applicator the combination of: a main frame; brushing means-thereon for conveying a stream of rollable entities and transmitting' Wax thereto; a wax feeding frame for lifting a quantity of Wax'from beneath into contact with said brushing means. said frame. including a pair of bars; wax pans for containing said Wax; means. on said bars and the ends of said pans for quick engagement or disengagement whereby said pans may readily be individually inserted in said frame or removed therefrom; and means for elevating and lowering said wax feeding frame to govern the feeding of the wax in said pans onto said brushing means.

13. In combination, a wax applicator adapted to operate continuously to apply wax in minute quantities to each of a continuous stream of rollable entities, the volume of said stream varying substantially from time to time; means for delivering wax to said applicator; and means in the path of said stream and operative upon engagement with a predetermined number of separate entities travelling in said stream to cause said delivery means to feed a predetermined quantity of wax to said applicator.

14. In combination, a wax applicator adapted to operate continuously to apply wax in minute quantities to each of a continuous stream of rollable entities which fluctuates in volume; means for delivering wax to said applicator; and means in the path of said stream and actuated separately by successive individual contacts with entities in said stream to operate said delivery means to cause the latter to deliver wax to said applicator in amounts proportionate to the number of said separate successive contacts.

15. In combination, a wax applicator adapted to operate continuously to apply wax in minute quantities to each of a stream of rollable entities in which the volume of said stream varies by] virtue of changes in the velocity of said stream; means for delivering wax to said applicator; and means automatically responsive to the velocity of said stream to operate said delivery means to cause the lattervto deliver wax to the said applicator in amounts proportionate to Said velocity.

16. In a device for applying coating material to a broad stream of vrollable objects in which a multiplicity of said objects may travel abreast and in which the volume of said stream uctuates, the combination of: coating material applicator for applying coating material to said objects in said stream; a control member conned in size and so located as to be susceptible to engagement and actuation by only a single one of said objects at a time, said member being so located relative to said stream that the rate of said engagements is substantially directly proportionate to the volume of said stream; and means separately responsive to the aforesaid engagements with said member of said individual objects and adapted to react to said engagements to feed coating material to said applicator in quantities directly proportionate to the number of said engagements.

17. In a device for applying coating material to a broad stream of rollable entities in which a multiplicity of said entities may travel abreast and in which the velocity of said stream fluctuates, the combination of: a coating material applicator including a plurality of rotating coating material applying rollers disposed transversely to the direction of travel of said entities and providing between adjacent pairs of said rollers a series of valleys in which said entities are Vadapted to be supported by said rollers and rotated by the latter so that movement of said entities through said device is eiected by the feeding of additional entities into an initial valley of said series so as to displace entities already therein and thus set up a wave of movement from valley to valley of other entities in said stream means for delivering coating material to said applicator; and means located at a given point in said device and adapted to be engaged by each of the successive waves of entities propelled over a given roll at said point by the feeding action aforesaid, said means being actuated separately by such successive engagements to operate said delivery means to cause the latter to deliver coating material to said applicator in amounts proportionate to the number of said separate engagements. i

18. A combination as in claim 17, in which said rollers are provided with brush rbristles which spread the coating material in a very thin layer over the outer surfaces of said entities and in which said delivery means delivers said coating material to said bristles.

19. A combination as in claim 17, in which the operating means, last recited, has engagement with said entities through a member embodied in said means and located to be engaged by entities passing over the ultimate one of those rollers recited in said claim.

20. In combination: a conveyor means for supporting and causing a stream of entities to travel over a given path, said stream being susceptible oi having its movement as an entirety halted and resumed without a substantial break in the continuity of said stream; an applicator for applying coating material to the entities of said stream; and means automatically responsive to the travel of said stream to cause coating material to be delivered to said applicator. said last mentioned means ceasing to deliver coating material to said applicator when the travel movement of said stream is halted as aforesaid, and resuming the delivery o! coating material to said applicator when the travel of said stream is resumed.

21. In a device for applying coating material to a stream of roliable entities travelling therethrough, the combination: a coating material applicator including a plurality of rotating coating material applying rollers disposed transversely to the direction of travel of said entities and providing between adjacent pairs of said rollers a series of valleys in which said entities are adapted to be supported by said rollers and rotated by the latter so that travel of said entities through said device is eiected by the feeding of additional entities into an initial valley of said series so as to displace entities already therein and thus set up a Wave of movement from valley to valley of other entities in said stream;A means for delivering coating material to said applicator; and control means responsive to the travel of said stream to operate said delivery means to cause the latter to deliver coating material to said applicator, said control means ceasing to so operate said delivery means immediately upon the halting of the travel movement of said stream of entities.

22. A combination as in claim 20, in which said travel responsive means causes coating material to be delivered to said applicator in proportion to the velocity of said stream when the latter fluctuates.

23. A combination as in claim 21, in which said stream of entities is substantially continuous yet -uctuating in volume and in which said control means causes said coating material delivery means to deliver coating material to said applicator in amounts directly proportionate to the volume of said stream.

HALE PAXTON.

Cil 

